Speaker Boehner Commits Us To A Credit Downgrade

Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) was on Fox News a while ago saying House Republicans are standing behind John Boehner and his proposal. They might want to think again.Having now reviewed it, it seems pretty clear that we will lose our credit rating as it does a lot of what the credit agencies have said not to do — mainly to punt.Beyond the Speaker’s spin, here’s what his plan actually does.The plan would raise the debt ceiling by $1 trillion, but would only cut $100 billion next year (at best) to get a combined total of $1.5 trillion in cuts over ten years if subsequent Congresses leave everything alone. The odds of that happening are zilch. And do we really think in an election year either side will want to even touch $100 billion as a best case scenario? Hell, that’s what the GOP promised when it took over in November and it failed to deliver. [Editor’s Note: We now know it will be a $25 billion cut, not a $100 billion cut]More troubling, the Speaker wants to then have the debt ceiling fight again next year and you and I both know they will cave again and Barack Obama will be hailed as a conquering hero in the run up to the 2012 election.But most troubling is this “Super Congress” commission that can force through tax increases and the Speaker’s only assurance that it will not happen is “we won’t put people on the committee who’d vote for tax increases.”Of course, Saxby Chambliss was one of those Republicans who was always opposed to tax increases until he suddenly wasn’t.As for the credit reporting agencies, they’ve said the whole time that we need a long term plan. This plan does nothing but punt.It neither cuts, nor caps, nor balances. This plan only keeps faith with “cut, cap, and balance” in the way members of Congress are faithful to their wives back in district and cheat on them with every short skirted intern while in Washington.